Pranab Mukherjee to attend UNGA instead of PM

New Delhi, Aug 10 (UNI) External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will attend the UN General Assembly session in New York in September instead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Official sources said the Prime Minister would pay a bilateral visit to US for a meeting with US President George Bush at his invitation.

The dates for the proposed meeting at the Crawford Ranch in Taxas are still being worked out.

This will be the second consecutive time that the External Affairs Minister will represent India at the UNGA. Last year also he had attended the UNGA as the Prime Minister was in Cuba attending the Non-Aligned Summit (NAM) of Heads of State/Government.

The Prime Minister has already accepted an invitation from the US President for a meeting at his Crawford Ranch, the External Affairs Ministry said.

However, dates have not been fixed yet.

''The Prime Minister has accepted the invitation. However, dates are yet to be fixed,'' the Ministry said.

UNI